While the Eagles signed Michael Vick and spent crazily to field the celebrated Dream Team, they played hardball with Jackson.

Consequently the encore after a prolific Pro Bowl season was Jackson’s least productive year since he started as a rookie.

Armed with a contract extension last season, Jackson had another slump. His numbers dipped to a career-worst 45 passes for 700 yards (15.6 average) and just two touchdowns. Injuries limited him to 11 games.

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Jackson is due $6.75 million in base pay this year with $4 million guaranteed, including $2.75 million due to injury.

Unless Jackson wins NFL MVP honors, it’s hard to believe he’ll get the $10.25 million he’s due in 2014. None of it is guaranteed.

Realizing the stakes, Jackson was so immersed in doing his job he didn’t realize Michael Vick was named the Eagles’ starting quarterback until it flashed across the TV screen around lunch time Wednesday.

“Regardless of who’s going to throw it to me, this year for myself is a huge year,” Jackson said. “I’ve worked so hard to get back after last year, breaking two ribs and having some torn cartilage in my sternum area. It was a tough year for us last year. I say not only for myself, I think this whole team. Everybody on this team, from starters to non-starters, this is a huge year for us. So anything I can do honestly to get back to how I first came in, in this offense and came into this league, that’s what I’m here to do.”

Jackson was the most explosive player in football in 2009 as he tallied 12 touchdowns, including nine receiving and two by punt return to go with rushing and kickoff returns. He averaged an NFL-record 52.9 yards per score.

All of that said, it wasn’t a certainty Jackson would survive the coaching change from Andy Reid to Chip Kelly. The big contract may have helped as the Eagles would have been on the hook for $12.5 million in dead money had they disposed of Jackson.

Jackson didn’t feel totally comfortable when Kelly took over, as he watched other receivers rotate snaps with the first-team offense. He didn’t seem crazy about being bumped out of his comfort zone and challenged to learn all of the receiver positions. His teammates helped him snap out of it.

“I almost had a reality check for myself to kind of go back to the things that I was doing when I first came in here and how hungry and how motivated I was,” Jackson said.

Jackson said he asked “peers” including Vick, running back LeSean McCoy, Jeremy Maclin for “constructive criticism.”

Jackson requested that if they saw “anything I’m doing just tell me because I want to be the best I can be.

“I want to go out there and prove all the naysayers and all the negativity wrong,” Jackson said. “So that’s what I’m doing.”

Jackson is the Eagles’ only deep threat as Maclin is out for the season with a torn ACL. The chemistry with Vick has been a plus in the preseason. The Kelly offense could result in Jackson getting the single coverage he used to kill on a regular basis.

Earlier in the week McCoy mentioned the new edge he saw in Jackson.

Vick has seen it as well.

“Absolutely,” Vick said. “DeSean and I are about to watch film right now which is something we rarely did over the years. I think DeSean is saying, ‘What’s really important? The longevity of this game, doing what is best, striving for something or trying to be the best receiver that you can be?”

For now, the best receiver description is leading.

“He shows up every day,” Kelly said. “He’s been out there every single day. I think he’s improved. He’s getting stronger in the weight room. He’s another guy that’s kind of bought into what we’ve asked him to do and helped him make himself a better player. I’m excited to see him once the real season gets along because I think he’s a huge advantage for us because he can create some mismatches out there.”